“This is another example of Rick Santorum intentionally making ignorant statements that have a real impact on LGBT people. Whether he’s comparing our marriages to inanimate objects, saying our children would be better off with a parent in prison as opposed to two loving same-sex parents, or calling open military service a ‘tragic social experiment;’ he’s proven that he thinks LGBT people are second-class citizens not worthy of dignity or respect. In this case, he’s advancing tired gender norms by implying a boy should be ashamed or embarrassed to use a certain color bowling ball...Kids have enough to worry about. They don’t need Rick Santorum telling them that using a pink bowling ball is a bad thing."

Comments

There is no self awareness in this creep.

Frothy will always be the sly sneaky little instigator in the school yard, getting the bullies to pick on someone.....willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike,...himself.
He is such a cheap, second rate barrow boy, peddling shoddy notions to his uneducated, vulnerable bigot-fans.

He just makes me vomit.
And oh yeah, pink makes you gay; keep away from it, you could catch something. This guy needs to be taught an almighty lesson in respecting others.

interesting. when i was a young kid i developed a complete aversion to the colour pink. i learned, very early, that it was wrong for me to like that colour. i vividly remember being in kindergarten, drawing a picture of some party and "balancing out" the pink balloons i drew with Blue ones. you know, to be a real boy and not a girl. because pink means girl.
it got to a point where i'd not even look at the color pink, out of a paranoid child's fear that "people would see me looking at it and think i liked it which would mean _______."

and now ricky extends this baseless societal fear to another. it's bad to be gay. it's also bad to be a man and touch anything pink.

day after day, this man continues to leave a legacy of embarrassment for his future grandchildren.

I suppose I may be projecting here, but is it at all possible that Santorum didn't want the boy using a pink ball because then someone would think the boy (who I don't know, but am presuming is straight) is gay and then the boy would get a ...."reputation?" This story makes it sound as if Rick is so paranoid about homosexuality that he's afraid that someone photographed near him with a pink bowling ball is....pro-gay.. or trying to make the Senator seem pro-gay....or trying to subtly advance a gay agenda by using a pink bowling ball. I'm confused about the real story.

Posted by: Mary | Mar 28, 2012 6:24:47 PM

Until around 1930 pink was a boys color. It was considered too strong a color for girls. Girls wore blue, as in Alce Blue Gown.

Posted by: DickG | Mar 28, 2012 6:26:15 PM

What a fuggin ignorant tool.

And what's with this cheap, pandering fascination Santorum has with bowling alleys lately? What a genius strategy! Dude is really struggling lately to find a message that appeals to ANYone lately, and stay on point. He's been saying that healthcare is the most important issue in the country at present. WRONG. But it's the only one where he can link Romney to Obama. It's really kinda fun watching a campaign crumble.

@Mary: IT'S JUST A COLOR. That's the point you (and Frothy Mix) don't get. And we're talking about a bowling ball, not a ball gown. The only people who care what color it is are immature idiots who ascribe social significance to these things. There is no such thing as "masculine" and "feminine" colors--that is an artificial cultural construct that only people who insist on perpetuating gender roles worry about.

I don't know how much lower American society can get, when things like the color of bowling balls become topics of debate, rather than the things that are really important, like making sure future generations are educated and healthy. We're supposed to make the world a better place for them, and teach them to do the same. Do you really think that teaching a boy to avoid a particular COLOR for fear of being associated with femininity is more important than teaching him mathematics, science, history, and the humanities? If the choice of bowling ball color is the lesson Americans pass on to their children, that says everything about what's wrong with this country and why the US will be relegated to the dustbin of history.

Posted by: atomic | Mar 28, 2012 6:53:01 PM

But maybe Santorum thinks he's following the example of the Catholic hierarchy by grabbing boys' pink balls.

Posted by: bobbyjoe | Mar 28, 2012 6:56:47 PM

I used a pink bowling ball once. Now I'm a total bottom.

Posted by: Craig | Mar 28, 2012 7:05:16 PM

I was similarly afflicted, Craig. After my first time with a pink ball i became addicted to quiche.

Mary: It sounds like you believe that even *thinking* a kid might be gay is a bad thing. It's like saying, "If you are not actually part black, I need to protect your reputation by discouraging you from doing something that might make you be suspected of being part black." If you are coddling bigots, with concerns about what they might think, then you are part of the problem.

I doubt Santorum, or the kid himself, knows the kid's sexual orientation.

It's 2012. Can we all get past "worries" about any implication of any choice of color in God's universe? It's utterly ridiculous. And for a serious Presidential candidate to say something like that -- unbelievable.

Posted by: David 2 | Mar 28, 2012 7:17:10 PM

Wow Littlekiwi, I'm not THAT gay!

Posted by: Craig | Mar 28, 2012 7:32:42 PM

I've had blue ball...but never pink. Well, maybe once in the 80's when someone tied them up too tight. In either case, I would love to have a pink ball at my age...in fact, a ball of any color would do me just fine.

Posted by: PAUL B. | Mar 28, 2012 7:35:29 PM

Atomica and David 2: I don't think the color of a bowling ball matters one bit. Nor do I think there's anything wrong with a person being known as gay. My only point was that in the circles Santorum moves in and is trying to appeal to most of the people are not gay, are not pro-gay politically, and if they are gay in orientation are probably closeted. Therefore they wouldn't want people to think they are gay - this is why I put the term "reputation" in quotation marks - so readers would know that I didn't think being known as gay is something to be ashamed of.

I figured that what Santorum meant was: No, son, we're not going to let you use that pink ball. Not on camera. People in school may use that photo to spread a rumor that you're gay and I don't want you to have to deal with that."

But I could be wrong, of course.

Posted by: Mary | Mar 28, 2012 7:45:48 PM

pink balls are for femmes. and as everyone knows, femme guys scream "ILOVEPROJECTRUNWAY!!!" when they orgasm.

not to mention, if the kid normally uses a pink ball... and he made him use a different color ball... hopefully the kid didn't injure himself. Bowling ball weight is usually by BALL COLOR in the bowling alley owned balls. rick thinks about masculinity and gay sex so much... methinks the lady doth protest too much, if ya know what I mean.

Posted by: Jeff | Mar 28, 2012 7:49:12 PM

Too bad he didn't show rickie how pink bowling balls can crack a skull just like any other color of bowling balls.

Posted by: greenfuzz | Mar 28, 2012 7:53:41 PM

I sense a new Dan Savage-created line of pink bowling balls with the logo for the spreadingsantorum.com website!

Every one of the Senator's fans dreads this double heading from the upcoming Wisconsin primary:

"ROMNEY LEADING IN WISCONSIN, SANTORUM TRAILING FROM BEHIND."

Hey,....it could be written this way!

Posted by: Mary | Mar 28, 2012 8:10:17 PM

This quote was taken out of context, he finished by saying, "You need blue balls, like these". The media is always cherry picking soundbites!

Posted by: smichaeledwards | Mar 28, 2012 8:10:26 PM

"Later that day, Herman Cain stopped by to meet the same young boy, and then informed him that his vegetarian pizza was for sissies, and that real men only eat pizza covered in meat"